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ASSERTIVENESS

(From my book of Aphorisms- 'Thoughts To Make You Think' By Helen Leigh - Chapter One - Personal Development)

True
Assertion and Confidence creates Stability, Care and Calmness.

It isn't
to be misconstrued as bossiness or rudeness.

And True
Assertion isn't delivered with hardness, it is the opposite.

To be
the right kind of Assertive you must deliver it with direct, clear,
softness. If you must say something forcefully or with anger, then
whatever you are doing, it is not for the right reasons.

...It is
strength of Character and an honest trust in what is Right that is
delivered with ease not force.

It also
enables others to feel assured that they know where they stand with
you and where you are coming from because you are unafraid to tell
them, and you know what you want and are a clear and balanced person.

As
opposed to the unassertive person who is a shakey, questioning,
guessing person, who will constantly ask what you think;.. and that
you should go first, and question you as to what they should do,..
this actually inadvertently enables everyone else to work for them
and sort out their lives.

Don't
mistake assertiveness with rudeness and unassertive-ness with
kindness, in the end it is much kinder to not 'lead people up the
garden path' and become involved in something you don't like and wont
follow through with because you weren't honest and said 'Yes', when
you should have said 'No', People get far more hurt in this process,
when a quick 'No' would have saved a lot of pain for you both.

As
another example: In the animal kingdom if an animal shows this
sneaky, shakeyey, uncertainty; they get eaten :) And Humans don't
like this behaviour also, because instinctually we know this
uncertainty is not going to care for us or defend us when we truly
need it; and all respect is lost.

True
Assertive people don't use this directness and strength in a hard,
angry or egoist way; that only happens when someone is pretending to
be Confident and Assertive but is actually afraid and attacking as a
defence, the ones who come from this angle are selfish and are not
being assertive or confident to help or care for others, but doing it
for selfish power reasons, you can always tell this person because
they feel the need to raise their voice and talk loudly over others.

True
Assertiveness Holds people in place, shows a clear path and allows
others to relax and trust in you. This is one of the marks of a good
character and someone who will lead and go far in life.

'Your work is a reflection and action
of who you are. If you love what you do, your entire being exists in
that state of love. That love is then what you offer the world
through your work and actions'.

(Moira Bush - Angel Cards)

My Art is a
Celebration of Colour, Animals, and .. Weirdness.. and the Awe and
Feelings that these combined evoke.

Animals are a
subject close to my heart (vegan) and my passion; And the freedom of
drip painting as well as combining strange Surrealism concepts using
Vibrant Colour is a complete expression from my soul.

My name is Helen
Leigh born and raised in the Garden City of - Christchurch, New
Zealand.

I am a self taught Artist, Aphorist and
Poet, and have traversed, tried, failed and indifferent-ed :) all
genres of Art and Writing over the past 14 years; in learning what
was the best expression of me.

And after all my research, It was a
completely un-researched accident that ended up being my primary
'Drift' or style of art which is what I later learned is called
'Drip' or Splatter Painting.

It took me the past 5 years to refine
my style and to figure out exactly what I was doing. I developed my
style after a Friend saw that I had spilled water on one of my
coloured sheets of card and that it had made a kind of Rainbow bleed
of drips of colour and said to me that it would be great to make
paintings like this and I was instantly excited by the idea, so I set
to re-create it..

This then culminated into incorporating
my passion for Animals (veganism) as my primary subject matter; a
subject that I found was a great expression of my feelings... I also
took some cues from graffiti and other surrealsits & the
Psychedelic 70's style or art, philosophies and music..

HOW DID I GET HERE?? ..WHY I WRITE AND
PAINT...

After struggling with Chronic Fatigue
Syndrome for past 10 years and in particular, the past 5 years having
been practically immobilised by it, I started to look within; and
with the help of my Shaman friend, I began to work on myself and my
environment and find ways to improve both; and my health.. Every time
I realised something and changed it, I got a little better, so I
began to write or draw these realisations down. I Started with Chalk
Pastels and Graphic Art as mediums to create images and Symbols to
remind myself of my learning as well as my Poetry and Aphorisms to
record my feelings and my gained wisdom... All my creative outlets
became just that - Outlets, a way to express myself, and to create
extensions of myself that I could share.

It was best put by Moira Bush on her
series of Angel Cards:

'Your work is a reflection and action
of who you are. If you love what you do, your entire being exists in
that state of love. That love is then what you offer the world
through your work and actions'. (as written above)

So my 'Work' and Life became Art and I
developed my own style and created an online gallery.

My goal will always remain the same..
Which is that I simply wish to create beauty and meaning and hare
it. The added bonus is that mostly I stop and look at what I have
painted or written and realise that I have in fact been shared
with!...(from a higher source) And that feeling is so compelling,
completely amazing, and really addictive..